Tag: tax compliance

Speak to any individual taxpayer and tax practitioner these days and no doubt ‘auto assessments’ will feature in the conversation. Whilst many agree that the auto assessment process is a good idea and there is appreciation of SARS’ intention to simplify tax compliance, there are mixed feelings regarding the implementation and practicality thereof.

The Commissioner of the South African Revenue Services (SARS), Edward Kieswetter, briefed the media and stakeholders on 30 July 2020 to provide an update in terms of SARS’ plans in respect of the 2020 Filing Season. The theme for this year’s filing season is #YourTaxMatters.

An interview with Jean-Louis Nel, Tax Attorney, Tax Consulting SA, and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing how the Pretoria High Court granted a small business owner an urgent basis for relief against SARS who depleted his bank account without following due process.

Earlier this month, the Pretoria High Court granted a small business owner an urgent basis for relief against the South African Revenue Service (SARS) who depleted his bank account without following due process. The court ordered SARS to set aside the third appointment of Absa who collected R1.3 million on behalf of SARS from the taxpayer’s bank account in terms of Section 179 of the Tax Administration Act (TAA).

On 1 February 2020, SARS released an exciting media statement, indicating that the revenue authority has embarked on a journey to reinvent SARS.

Global demand for greater tax transparency, emanating from corporate scandals such as Google, Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and Nike, is leading the boards and audit committees of South African corporations to ask more difficult questions than ever before about how organisations are governing their tax affairs and managing tax risks. The risk of reputational damage and financial loss is simply too high to be ignored.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) delivered a judgment on 6 September 2019 that handed SARS, what could be considered, one of their most influential wins in recent times. The SARS Commissioner did not pull any punches and took BMW South Africa to task on tax services performed for their expatriates, by their top tier advisors KPMG and PwC.

Tax authorities could do more to realise the full potential of new technology to reduce the tax compliance burden on taxpayers, according to the 2019 edition of the annual Paying Taxes 2019 Report, produced by PwC and the World Bank Group.

A recent judgment handed down in the Pretoria High Court last month highlights SARS’s intransigence when applying certain aspects of the Tax Administration Act, 28 of 2011 (the TAA).